When that black cloud drifted over, the sky instantly went dark-not the ordinary darkness of night, but a darkness where the light had been forcibly sucked away, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.
Every torch, lantern, and glow of Chakra the ninjas had kindled went out, without so much as a spark left.
Only those hands remained, stark white, reaching out of the cloud in dense masses, one after another, twisting around each other like a writhing white wall. The sight made the scalp crawl.
Shuo stood where he was, the candy still in his mouth. He did not chew it, simply holding it there as its sweetness slowly seeped into the tip of his tongue.
Sai stood beside him, his hand pressed firmly against his sword hilt, his whole body taut as he watched those hands warily.
Hand Princess crawled at the very front, its five fingers gripping the ashen ground firmly. The pale purple eye in its palm stared fixedly at the black cloud. It neither moved nor hid. The hands reaching out of the cloud all stared at it too, staring at the three of them. The air was thick with oppressive tension.
"Fuck."
Shuo swore under his breath, crunched up the candy in his mouth, and swallowed it. The sweetness pushed down the gloom in his heart.
"Hand Princess."
"Mm..."
Its voice trembled a little. It was clearly afraid.
"What exactly is in there?"
Hand Princess fell silent for three seconds before slowly speaking. "It's me... another part of me."
Shuo frowned, a little impatient. "Weren't you fucking down to this one hand? How is there another part now?"
"No," Hand Princess said haltingly. "After I was blown apart, I broke into lots of pieces. This is just... the biggest piece. The others scattered everywhere."